


Trustworthy?

by WhimsicalCog



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: kindaoumasaibutkindanot
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-01
Updated: 2019-01-01
Packaged: 2019-10-01 23:39:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,090
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17253539
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WhimsicalCog/pseuds/WhimsicalCog
Summary: [V3-4 Spoilers]A stressed, lonely Kokichi compromises with logic for once.





	Trustworthy?

    He’s done it. He’s made himself the villain now.

    With all the chaos of the latest trial finally over, Kokichi wants nothing more than to flop down on his bed and forget it all. Thinking of the words he spoke, his own twisted grin, makes his stomach turn. With all his acting and theatrics, he can’t separate lies from truth anymore. Did he care for Gonta, or did he really not? Does some part of him actually enjoy watching people suffer? It’s all gotten twisted inside his head, and he doesn’t even recognize himself anymore. At this point, sleep is his only refuge from the maze of his mind has become.

    But laziness would be damning at this point in the game, so instead he drags himself over to his white board. As he does after every trial or new development, he takes in every picture and doodle, analyzing them anew. It’s tedious, for sure, but anything could lead to an epiphany.

    Kaede grouped with Rantaro, Kirumi with Ryoma, Korekiyo with Angie and Tenko…

    With a sigh, he shifts Gonta and Miu’s portraits to their own little spot, doodling an arrow and a roll of toilet paper. Then, he stares, a gnawing pit growing in his stomach. He always feels disconcerted and dejected after class trials. But this feels different, somehow, and it takes him a minute to realize the feeling is guilt. Not only had he failed to prevent death once again, he’d directly caused it. He’d crossed a line- _his_ line-this time, done something that went against every shred of his beliefs.

     _She tried to kill you first_ , he reminds himself. But that doesn’t ease the disquiet that curls and clutches at his insides. There had to have been another way to deal with Miu trying to kill him.

_You had to paint yourself as a villain, too. And the way to make yourself a villain in a killing game is_ to kill _._

    But had he just been painting himself as the villain? He remembered the way his lips had curled upward as he’d watched Miu flail on the rooftop, desperate for air. Had _that_ been an act on this part?

    No, it hadn’t. He’d felt real malice then. He’d felt that she deserved it. She had the resources to stand up to Monokuma, but was too much a coward to do so, and then she went and betrayed him to top it all off.

    What had this game turned him into? What had he turned himself into?

    He doesn’t want to delve into that too much, so he refocuses his attention on the remaining portraits. Only six survivors left, if he excludes himself. That means only six people could be the mastermind: Tsumugi, Maki, Kaito, Kiibo, Himiko, or Shuichi. Unless the mastermind is some third party. Or someone that’s already died. Maybe he’s somehow the mastermind and doesn’t know it. That would be cruel, considering the role he’s about to play.

    He shakes his head. _Focus_. He has to focus. Most likely, the mastermind is someone among the group, and it’s probably- hopefully- not himself. There are only six people; it should be easy to pinpoint the mastermind. Maybe doing that will make it up to the nine people he’s already failed.

    He stares at the six portraits with renewed energy. Kiibo’s definitely suspicious. How the hell does someone earn an “Ultimate” title just for their existence? If he’s not the mastermind, he has to be a pawn, or something. He scrawls the word “weird” under Kiibo’s portrait.

    Then there’s Himiko, always lost in her own little world. She’s lazy and stupid, and she lost two of her closest friends to this game. That’s not mastermind material, is it? Though it could all be a guise.

    Kaito’s portrait catches his attention next. _He’s a leader, just like Kaede was._ Someone that has helped the group so much couldn’t be the mastermind, right? But maybe he’s using his leadership to guide everyone exactly how he wants to.

    Maki comes next. Being an assassin is suspicious in and of itself, along with the fact that she hid her real talent from everyone for so long. And now she’s constantly with Kaito and Shuichi, the two most influential people out of everyone else, while still keeping that mysterious vibe of hers. Maybe it’s pent up resentment towards her, but something possesses him to write “suspicious” next to her portrait.

    Kokichi has to remind himself to not skip right past Tsumugi. Plain, _boring_ Tsumugi. He can’t find anything remarkable about her beyond her Ultimate talent. She’s blended in with the group so well that even with their dwindled numbers she doesn’t stick out. She almost blends in _too_ well.

    And finally… Shuichi. The detective has carried the group through every class trial, solving every mystery that came their way. There’s no way he could be the mastermind, right? Somehow, it doesn’t feel right to group him with the others. Kokichi slides his portrait to the very top right of the board, but his ever-reliable doubt immediately creeps in.

     _You’re letting your emotions get in the way._

_No, I’m not. The mastermind wouldn’t solve the murders for their participants._

_It could all be a ruse. The game’s more entertaining if its players die off slowly. He could be manipulating you, and you’re falling right into his trap-_

_No!_ That isn’t possible. It just isn’t. He attempts to convince himself he’s using pure logic, but the conclusion comes from a gut feeling more than anything else, a twist in his stomach whenever he tries to pair the title “mastermind” with Shuichi. He thinks of Shuichi’s genuine smile, of his eyes, hungry to take in every little detail of the world. He thinks of his cunningness, and how he balances it so well with his compassionate side. Kokichi thinks of how Shuichi had shown compassion towards him, of all the _fun_ they’d had together, and he just can’t conflate the boy with any kind of evil. The calculating side of his brain screams that _anyone_ could be the mastermind, that he shouldn’t let himself be swayed by bias- and why is he so biased toward Shuichi, anyway? But his feelings are too overwhelming to ignore. So he follows Shuichi’s lead, balancing his logic and his faith.

    Against every instinct he has, against every little thing he’s done since the killing game began, Kokichi raises the marker to the board yet again, writing “trustworthy” under Shuichi’s portrait, following the word with a little question mark.


End file.
